Orkney Image Library

Cromarty's Lane, after the late Peter Cromarty who operated a horse drawn lorry well into the 1950's.

[That's it! - Steven]

We lived on Broadsands Road and called it Cromarty's Lane.

I thought this was Cromarty's Lane. Mr Cromarty had a small stable at the Clay Loan end next to his house and kept his old Clydesdale horse there.

Peter Cromarty used to cart 16 boll bags of flour from the the pier to J F Groundwater weighing 1 ton

His son would be John, Slater Street next door to Jacko Mowat

I used to walk to school along this way when I lived in Glaitness road and went to the old KGS in School place. I left home down High Street,up Main Street then this took you from the Clay Loan right through to the police station, a great short cut, saved the walk all the way up Victoria Street and Palace road You could join another wee alley that ran from Palace Road through to School Place. With these short cuts I could walk from home right to school in 10 minutes a distance of round about a mile and a half!

Didn't know the mans name was Peter Cromarty. Many a journey I and Evan Wylie enjoyed in the late 50's on the horse drawn cart from Victoria Street up Victoria Road and into the lane. Best reverse parking I ever saw when Mr Cromarty would make the horse reverse the cart into his stable. Don't think it was a Clydesdale though, seemed smaller but I may be wrong.

A most interesting photo and a very interesting camera angle. If you follow the roof ridge line just beyond the trees on the right then I don't think you should have a continuous line of houses on Clay Loan. Laverock road and Manse lane were opposite end of Cromarty's lane. The houses on the lower side of Laverock Road would show gable ends. The windows of the houses are also a puzzle with small panes. If they are the upper Manse Road ones in the distance surely they would be obscured by the Clay loan houses. And its definitely not Victoria Road end. It certainly looks like Cromarty's lane but it does raise some puzzling points.

David, just to the left of the near chimney you can see the gable tops of two blocks on the lower side of Laverock Road. The stepped ridge houses with small paned windows are on the near side of Manse Road above Manse Lane, viewed beyond the Laverock Road back gardens. I think it's a zoom lens effect that makes it look unusual, pulling everything closer than the eye sees.

Having re-visited the lane and imagined the camera angle I began to wonder if it could be looking towards Victoria Road after all. The bend would fit in with the tree which is still there. It's the houses in the background which are the problem as well as the distant gable to the left of the chimney. Could the picture be earlier than 1984 ?

Me again. The longer I study this photo and all the buildings etc. the more I wonder if this is in Kirkwall. The lane has a greater resemblance to those in Stromness near the old academy.

I went there for a look today as well! Difficult to tell because of all the trees, but I'm pretty certain that this is Victoria Lane/ Cromarty's Lane, and that the gable to the left of the chimney is that of the house at the Clay Loan end of Laverock Road (the house Maurice Russell stayed in?) and that the houses with the windows in the background are the further away ones on Manse Road.

It's defo Victoria Lane looking towards Clay Loan. Thats the Swedish houses on Clay Loan at the top.

Bear in mind that the houses on Clay Loan were rebuilt in the early 80's.

Thanks Dave and Steven for your comments. Dave I had not thought of the houses on the lower part of Manse Road, but rather those where Harry Kerr's shop was. But that now makes sense. Then the roof ridge just beyond the trees running towards the window panes will be the workshop that stood at the beginning of Manse Lane. There was a huge grass mound just beyond it. I did not say it was definitely not Cromarty's lane only that it was a puzzler and could it be elsewhere.

I'm sure Maurice's house was one of the houses that was rebuilt by Morrisons in the mid 80s.

[Indeed - Steven]

Sorry I think someone has been messing about with a digital image, these dont look like Manse Road houses or any other in that direction. Looking the other way you would only get the high wall next to Ina McKays house.

No digital manipulation by me or anyone else. I can assure everyone that it is Cromarty's Lane. I was at the blunt end of the camera, standing at the Victoria Lane end, pointing the camera to Manse Road. Thanks to everyone for their contributions.

Were you using a telescopic lens here Sandy, youv'e got everybody "foxed"?

You could be right Peter. I used a 135mm lens a lot.

That is the Clay loan end of what is now Victoria Lane. David Wylie's house No.2 Victoria Lane on the left and No's 5,7,9 and 11 Manse Road in front. Part of the wall on the right was removed when No.s 1,3,5 and 7 Victoria Lane were built this has made the lane look straighter

Does anyone know at what number Cromarty's Lane Peter Cromarty lived and had his stable?